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Kelle first moved to Oregon in 1989 across the street from Shute Park in Hillsboro. Years later, she transitioned to caretaking for an elderly homeowner in Banks and building a life with her significant other Lance, who lived in a tiny home in the backyard. The setup was simple and cozy and both Kelle and Lance affectionately referred to the homeowner as “Grandma.”
When a devastating house fire tore through Kelle’s home, everything changed in an instant. Lance, who was legally blind, struggled to get out of the house with Grandma after a last-ditch effort to salvage belongings from the burning home. While Kelle, Lance, and Grandma walked away from the fire, years of memories were reduced to ash and, devastatingly, three beloved pets were lost. Left with little more than the clothes on their backs, Kelle and Lance bought a tent and pitched it near the place they once called home. While grateful to have survived, they were uncertain about what came next.
Kelle had never experienced homelessness before. Day after day without electricity, running water, or protection from the elements began to take its toll. What started as days turned into months. More than half a year had passed since the fire, and still there was no end in sight.
Her story might have ended there, another person pushed to the margins by tragedy and housing instability. But in 2023, Kelle stopped to pick up a food box at the Open Door HousingWorks day center located in Cornelius. After sharing her housing story with outreach staff, they submitted a shelter referral on her behalf.
A week later, “I got a phone call saying there was a place for us to go,” she recalls. “I couldn’t believe it.”
That call led her to stay at the Hillsboro Safe Rest Pods, a shelter where individuals and couples have a stable place to stay while working on housing goals. More than simply a roof over her head, shelter offered Kelle community and connection.
Movable pod shelters like the Hillsboro Safe Rest Pods allow Washington County to quickly scale up shelter capacity. The location where Kelle stayed, has since been redeveloped into the permanent Hillsboro Shelter and the pods are being moved to a long-term pod shelter location, called Next Step Community, in Aloha. Through a range of shelter models, Washington County funds over 400 shelter beds to help people like Kelle.
Later this fall, the Cornelius Safe Rest Pods will be redeveloped into an access center, owned and operated by Open Door, that will serve as the front door in Western Washington County for people like Kelle to get connected with shelter, lifesaving needs like food and clothing, and long-term housing connections. This access center will join two additional programs funded by Washington County in Tigard and Hillsboro.
In the midst to adjusting to staying shelter, came another unimaginable blow. Lance passed away.
Kelle navigated this grief alongside other guests and found support through staff, especially her case manager, Elly Smith. You may recall Elly Smith was awarded the inaugural Housing Services Community CARES award in fall 2025. With Elly’s guidance, Kelle applied for a long-term housing voucher through the Supportive Housing Services program.
When she finally unlocked the door to her apartment in Hillsboro, it was a moment of both relief and heartbreak. More than ever, Kelle needed a stable, affordable home where she could heal and grieve.
“I had mixed emotions, because I felt like Lance should have been here with me,” Kelle says. “There’s a lot of sadness and some days are harder than others, but I think that this is where I was supposed to be.” Kelle reflects on the humbling experience of settling into her new home. After living in a tent, even amenities like a mirror in the bathroom stand out.
Kelle and Elly christened the new apartment with pizza, the way most people do after a long day of moving into a new home. Kelle navigated her own health challenges and was diagnosed with lung disease while staying in shelter, but she remains stably housed to this day, aging in place in the same community she moved into in 1989.
Kelle says, “Stable housing saved my life.”
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